Kelly with her new sleeping bag.

Kelly and Lex

Kendra smelling Kelly's something-or-other.

Kelly and Grace

Funny Faces

Hanging in the Hammock

Kelly’s Birthday Dinner

Ok, I’d better write about the rest of Kelly’s birthday, before I forget the particulars. Or forget to write at all, for that matter.

Actually, I’m not sure exactly what to write. When we got back, Grace had already got most of dinner prepped, so we helped out where we could, and hung out. Kendra, Kelly, and I hung around in a hammock, and had a good time. Dinner was on the covered porch, with some nice candles, and of course, very good food. After dinner, Kelly opened presents. Kelly dropped off Kendra, and took me home. I’m not sure what happened after that, since I wasn’t there.

On the way down, Lex and Kendra saw two Great Blue Herons. There is one in this photo, though it's kind of small in this photo.

Louis hiking back, with James and Kendra in the background. Like my new sun hat?

Another texture. I'm trying to gradually build a library of texture photos, in case I want them for any graphic design projects.

This is about as far as we went. It was great to not only hike by water, but in the shade. Arizona makes you appreciate certain things. :-)

Ok, here's one of the texture photos I said I'd post.

Burrs Up Close and Personal

Cattails

"Ten Miles Down Weedy Wiver"

Another Canyon View

Thoughts on this one?

Kendra Enjoying the Water.

What does anybody think of this composition? I can't decide.

Kelly On the Rocks

Me. Standing there.

James climbing the rocks.

Canyon Framed Suitably.

View back down the stream, taken from the lunching spot.

This bug was very patient while I took its photo. I like the photo. I'm not sure if I like the bug.

I was enjoying playing around with shadows and textures. This is the only shadow photo that I'm pleased with. I'll throw in a couple of texture photos later.

Kendra and Kelly on a rock seat.

Lex and Louis chilling in the water. It was cool, but not cold. Perfect for a 104 degree day. I like moving water.

Rocks. Lex says that there are some caves in some of the wall that still have pots and stuff from Native Americans from long ago. The only way you can see them is by helicopter, apparently.

Kelly deciding not to ford the deep spot after all.

James and Kelly fording a deep spot.

James

James hiking through the water. James took the "longcut" through the stream at the first bit. But he almost kept up with us anyway.

Lex

It was nice to hang out with Lex; it had been awhile. He knows a lot of the history of the Aravaipa and the area around it. It was cool to hear some stories.

Looking up the river near the start of the hike.

View from the parking lot.

Kelly and Kendra sign in and pay the fee at the trailhead.

Hiking on Kelly’s Birthday

Sunday was Kelly’s 23rd birthday, and celebrated it in good style with a hike. Sunday morning, I got up at 6:00. Kendra Smith was coming on the hike, but was out at some friends house out by Three Points, which is about 50 minutes drive. I drove out there and picked her up, and headed to Kelly’s house.

A little later, Lex (Kelly’s dad), James (brother), Kendra, Kelly and I headed out. Our hike was at Aravaipa Wilderness Area. Aravaipa is a canyon about an hour and a half from Tucson. The canyon has a year-round stream in it. This time of year, it’s pretty deserted because of the heat. We almost had the place to ourselves.

At first, you walk about a mile through a section of Nature Conservancy property, and then to the wilderness area. For part of the way there are trails, but you have to walk through the stream at some points, which is of course fun.

After hiking for an hour or so, we stopped and ate lunch and played in the water, took naps, took photos, etc. By this time, it was early afternoon. We hiked on for another half hour or so, seeing some more great scenery. The canyon walls rose around us as we splashed through the water.

The hike back to the truck was quicker, and we made it back to Kelly’s house around 5:00. I’ll post a bunch of photos, and then write a bit about the rest of the day.

Brandon Climbing

Around 2:30, it started to thunder and rain. After waiting for it to calm down a bit, Brandon cleaned the 5.10+ route.

Climbing Again

Saturday I went climbing with Brandon and some folks. On the way up the mountain, Brandon’s car started overheating. He first slowed down, thinking it was simply overloaded. It still didn’t cool down, so we pulled over to check it out, and found that he had a rather large coolant leak in an odd spot. I had just recently gotten AAA, which includes free tows, so I called them and they came and picked up the car and took it to the shop, while we went climbing.

It took awhile to do all this and to hike to the climb. There were a bunch of 5.11s, and some 5.9s and 5.10s. I jumped on a 5.9, and made it up in pretty good form. My muscles were fine, but I did realize that my head isn’t in the climbing as much. But I was pleased, considering it was my first climb (on rock at least) for about a year. After that, I jumped on a 5.10+, and it kicked my butt. Brandon had lead it, and it was challenging to him, so I wasn’t too surprised.

All in all, the gear I got seemed to work great. I didn’t notice the harness, which is a good sign. I did find that the shoes I got grip great, and I was able to use some really thin footholds. Now if only my fingers were that good at gripping…

Gear, Gear, Gear!

Last Thursday night, I rode down to Summit Hut, a local outdoor retailer. I wanted to look at rock climbing gear. I climbed a lot last year with Brandon, but hadn’t been climbing since June of ’04, or something like that. Kelly kept nudging me to get back into it, since she really enjoys it, and had had a great time climbing with Jared, Bess, and crew back in February.

In any case, I check out a bunch of gear, looked at prices, made a list of stuff I needed, etc. (Harness, shoes, chalk bag, quickdraws, biners, belaying device, for the record).

Friday night, I rode back to Summit Hut. First, a short note on the riding. I find it interesting how cities have such different feeling “pockets.” For example, the neighborhood that I’m in is medium nice. Small houses, but pretty well kept up. Not too much weird stuff going on in the night, etc. But cross one street, and go a little ways, and it’s a completely different feel, with lots more run-down houses, mobile home parks, etc. And riding a bike, I see it more, since I take small streets, and am of course moving more slowly. End of digression…

Friday, I bought all that gear, as well as a rope for Kelly for her birthday. (More on that later). It was a bunch of stuff, and I had to do a bunch of choosing. I bought a Petzl Corax harness, which is very comfortable, Montrail Splitter shoes, Trago quickdraws, and other good stuff. It seemed like a lot of money to plunk down, but I realized that it was really comparable to 3-4 hours of flying. Not that bad after all.

Me Driving

Smoky Sky

Smoky Sunset

Louis on the Rock

Kelly Sitting on a Rock. (But not resting in the shadow of one).

Da Lake

Kelly wearing my new hat. :-) The grass was her idea.

Parker Canyon Lake Trip

This week I worked Monday through Thursday, and accumulated 50 hours in that time. Crazy. Friday, I had the day off, and I Kelly and I took a great excursion. We headed south to Sonoita, AZ, which is a about an hour south and a bit east of Tucson. From there, we cruised out to Parker Canyon Lake. It’s another hour from Sonoita. It’s not a natural lake—it was dammed in the late ‘60s, but is decent water, at least for Arizona. They stock the lake, and a lot of folks go down to fish. But, it being Friday, it wasn’t that busy.

Kelly and I had a nice time—good conversation, coupled with some disagreement. Normal stuff like that. It was a really peaceful spot, but it made also made me miss the ocean.

After hanging out there, we headed farther south on some Forest Service dirt roads, and did some exploring. There’s an old town site down that way, but we didn’t have a map, and couldn’t find it. But it was fun in any case.

The sunset was great, since the Florida fire was between us and the sun, and the smoke made it much better. Around sunset, Kelly and I headed back to Sonoita, and had dinner at a local café. I like eavesdropping on locals in small towns. I know the kinds of things that they talk about, after growing up on Guemes, but it’s interesting to see exactly what the local “issues” are.

Tucson Lights. I think that I like cities best from a distance, like this. That's the Florida fire at the upper left.

Kendra and the City Lights

Kendra and Kelly at the Top

Kelly Climbing by the Edge

Kendra Climbing

Sun and Succulent